Tuhfat-ul-muwahhidin

3 fi 0 3

Rammohun Mission Serios*— 'No. 1.

TUHFAT=UL=MUWAHHID1N

{A Gift to Mono-theists)

P.Y

RAJA RAMMOHUN ROY

Translated into English from the original Persian
with illustrations.

t shoft life of the author, a critical study oj his works ty
Or. Brojendranath > eal, and a summary of the book.

S. K. LAHIRI & CO.

COLLEGE S'l'REET. CALCUTTA.

iMiianced and Organised
by

The I’al Memoriil Trust.
(Rammohun Mission.)
14, Vidyasagar Street,
Calcutta.

Printed by the Cotton Press 57. Harrison Road Calcutta, fur Mr.
D. N. Pal founder of the Pal Memorial Trust. (Rammohun
Mission,) 14, Vidyasagar Street, ^Calcutta.

CONTENTS.

Pag k

Forewarcl by Mr. D. N. Pal

Preface by liajnarain B<«e . . . , i

Preface by Obaidullali, translator of the 1)ook ii

Translation of the Arabic introduction to

Tulifiit-ul-inmvahliidin . . . . iii

({ifts to Believors in one (Jod (Bnglisli t i\uishi-

tioii of tlio Tahfal.) . . . . 1-25

Life iind la])Ours of Rumniolum Hoy . . i-

A vitoLiograpliical Letter of llaniniolnin lioy

api)ended to the Last Days. . . . . v

A ( Vitieal Study of Haninioliuni It >y‘s Works

(l)y Dr. B. N. Seal) .. .. ix

In Meinoriarn . . . . . . xix

How to Study Itaninioluin . . . . xxii

Date of the Tuhjat . . . . . . xx\ i

Mahe and Texture of the Tuhjaf .... .... xxxix

1\ihfat-ul-mu\vahhidhi in origina,!. .... D

FOREWOKD

By Mr. D. N. Pal.

Phe idea of bringing out an up-to-date and critical
edition of all tlie works of Raja Rammoliun Roy came
into my mind when I was acting as an Honorary
Secretary of the Raminohun Library and Free
Reading Room, Calcutta, in the years 1914-16 and my
esteemed friend, the late Mr. Bepin Behary Ghosh
M.A. B.L., a sincere and devoted admirer of the great
man, helped me materially in the accomplishment of
the noble object. Though I have often doubted
whether the time for a proper appreciation of Ram-
niohun Roy and his works, has arrived, yet some
unknown force impelled my heart to make persistent
efforts, towards the realisation of my idea. In tlie year
1914, 1 undertook the publication of the new edition of
the ‘Last Days in England’ of Raja Rammoliun Roy
and from the year 19 1 6, I have l)eon most intimately
lionnected with the construction of a suitable memorial
of Raja Rammoliun Roy at his birthplace at
Radhanagar and as Honorary Secretary of this
important work, I Ib ind ample opportunities of
discussing the question of the pulilicatioii of the works
of Raja Rammoliun Roy with the co-operation of our
distinguished countryman Dr. Brojendra Nath Seal
M.A. Ph.D. and my sincere friend, the late Mr. Ajit
Kumar Ohakravarty. Both Dr. Seal and Mr.
Chakravarty gladly came forward to help me in my
humble endeavours to bring out a critical cilition of
the Ufe and works of the Raja, (dwing to th(i sudden

death of my friend Mr. Chakravarty I had to give up
this idea for the time being, but fortunately later on,
we secured the active co-operation of Mr. Protul Ch.
Some (Editor, Indian Messenger), Professor Jadu Nath
Sarkar M.A., I.E.S., and Dr. Brojendra Nath Seal,
Vice-Chancellor of the Mysore University, but for
whose assistance it would have been impossible to
bring out the present volume. Tuhjat-Ul-Muwahhiddin
is chronologically the first among the Eaja’s
publications. My best thanks are due to Professor
Sarkar for his having thoroughly revised and partly
re-written the Persian translation of this work into
English. Dr. Seal has kindly written for us an
intersting ])aper on the “Criti(;al Study and Estimate
of Eammohun lioy‘s Works” and we respectfully invite
the attention of our readers to this important and
original criticism. We also iircluded in this book
another chapter on “Ilow to study Kammohun Hoy”
written by one of our most thoghtful writers, 'rhe
two chapters on the “Date c»f the Tuhfat” and “Make
and 'rexture of tlu^ Tuhfat” will certainly be read with
considerable amount of interest by those of our
countrymen who like to follow the trend of the Itaias
mind through all its stages.

I may here mention that great difficulty was
experienced by me in completing this volume owing
to various unfavourable circumstances through which
I had to pas.-. The delay in publishing tins edition
of the TvMat is due to causes over which I had no
con+rol. As Secretary of the Rammohun Birthplace
Memorial Society, under whose auspices this work was
originally undertaken and should have been published

vu

now, I have been again experiencing unsurmountable
difficulties thrown in my way by some unsympathetic
persons and consequently I was much handicapped.

The present financial condition of the Society is
far from satisfactory, and it is not at all possible for
them to undertake any venture of this description.
Messrs S. K. Lahiri & Co., (the well-know® publishing
house of Calcutta), who kindly undertook to
act as printers, have been continually pressing me
for the payment of their dues which have been
long outstanding. Tfence, the whole finaiioial responsi-
bility has been tiiken over by me as the founder of
the Pal Memorial 'Prust and Rarnmohun Mission which
will henceforth undertake the publication of the various
other books and tracts as a part of an indepjen-
dent propaganda work which was contemplated
by the Rammohun Birthplace Memorial Society.
It is my earnest wish to shortly publish an exhaustive
Life of the Raja m English. This is one of the
greatest wants at the present moment.

D. N. PAL.

A CRITICAL STUDY AND ESTIMATE
OF RAMMOHUN ROY’S WORKS

BY

Dr. Brajbndranath Seal, M.A , Ph.D.

A, — Formative Injluences — Sources and Origin.

As a general introduction to a critical study
and estimate of the Raja’s works, I may note that
his intellectual ancestry must bo sought in four dif-
ferent representative cultures of the world’s history.

1. The whole body of Hindu culture and civili-
sation with the pre-eminent exception of the primi-
tive stage of Nature worship as represented in the
Samhita portions of the Vedas.

2. The various schools and sects of Arabic Phi-
losophy and Theolog}^, — Aristotle’s logical moulds
and forms of thought in which were cast the materials
of the Koran and'Shariyat — especially the heterodox
sects, among whom may be mentioned the Mutazalas,
the Sufi.s, the Muwahidis, and, perhaps, also the
masonic body of the Sincere Brethren, the ‘Eneyclo-
ptedists’ of the 10th century.

3. The eighteenth century movement of Ration-
alism represented by the English Deists and Free
Thinkers, the sceptics Hume and Gibbon, the French
Encyclopedists, and especially the religous sect of
the French Theophilanthropists associated with the
names of Voltaire and Volney — movements ultimately
traceable through Locke’s philosophy to Bacon s

2

X

protest against authority and the Baconian method
of Induction.

4. Lastly, Christian Theology and Philosophy,
Old as well as New Testament culture — in the entire
range of its historic origin and development.

B. — The two Rammohun Roys.

At the outset, I would sound a note of warniof?

O

against the indiscriminate use of the rich but hetero-
genous materials presented in the Raja’s works. For
a right understanding and estimate of the Raja’s
thought and utterance, it is necessary to bear in
mind the two essentially distinct but equally indis-
pensable parts which the Raja played on the historic
stage. There was Raja Rammohun Roy the Cosmo-
polite, the Rationalist Thinker, the Representative
Man with a universal outlook on human civilization
.and its historic march ; a Brahmin of the Brahmins,
a hierophant moralising from the commanding height
of some Eiffel Tower on the far-seen vistas and out-
stretched prospects of the world’s civilisation, Jeremy
Bentham’s admired and dearly loved collaborator in
the service of mankind ; the peer of the Humes, the
Gibbon.s, the Voltaires, the Volneys, the Diderots or
any Freethinker or Rationalist of them all. For him.
all idols were broken and the parent of illusions, Autho-
rity, had been hacked to pieces. He, the Cosmopolite,
was daunted by no speculative doubts, discouraged
by no craven fears. For him, the veil of Isis was
torn ; the Temple had been rent in twain and the
Holy of Holies lay bare to his gaze ! For he had
bad his disillusionment, was indeed a thorough rotie

XI

of the nionde (or demi-monde) intellectual. Calmly,
fearlessly, truthfully, he probed, fathomed, dissected.
And by deep meditation and brooding he had won a
glimpse of the Truth.

But there was another and equally characteristic
part played by the Raja — the part of the National-
ist Reformer, the constructive practical social legis-
lator, — the Renovator of National Scriptures and
Revelations. For the Raja was cast in Nature’s
j’egal mould. His was the work of half a dozen gi-
ants. His name was Legion. Hindu Pandit, Zabur-
dasht Moulavie, Christian Padre, the Rishi of a new
Manwantara or Yuga, the Imam or Mahdi of a new
Tradition, the Prophet or Nabi of a newer Dispen-
sation — by what name shall I call this man ?

Q. — Various Aspects of the Raja's Work.

Yes, the Raja carried on single-handed the work
of Nationalist Reform and Scripture Renovation and
Interpretation for three such different cultures and
civilisations as the Hindu, the Christian and the
Mahomedan. Unfortunately the Manezaratul Adiyaii
and other Arabic and Persian works in which the
Raja developed his scheme of Moslem religious or
socio-religious restoration are lost. But his later
writings dealing with the Hindu and Christian Scrip-
tures remain, and are an endless mine of the most
precious material to the student of comparative Reli-
gion, Sociology and Ethnology.

The Raja’s work falls under the following heads —

I. Raja Rammohun Roy — the Cosmopolite, Ratio-

XU

natist, Universalisfc, standing aloof from ethnic,
national, historic limitations and embodiments.

Under this head I note the following divisions

(1) As a Rationalist, Deist, Thoophilanthropist,
Universalist.

This is the predominant element of the Tuhfatul
Muwahhiddin stage of the Raja’s mental history, and
an element which, however, subsequently enriched,
embodied and clothed in particularities, throughout
remained at the bottom of all the Raja’s deepest and
most characteristic thought.

(2) As a Sociologist — with special reference to
Politics, Jurisprudence, Ethics, Economics, and
Education, (both pure and applied, theoretical and
practical).

(3) As the founder, in a very real sense of the
term, of the Science of Comparative Religion, and the
classification and development of Religion.

To this Cosmopolitan or Universa,listic department
of the Raja’s work belongs the founding of the
Brahmo Samaj, which by its trust-deed was to be a
meeting-house of the worshippers of the one God,
whether members of Hindu, Mahomedan, Christian
or other communities. The Raja’s Samaj was a
meeting-house, a congregation of worshippers, but had
no direct social significance whatever.

II. Raja Rammohun Roy, the Practician, the
Religious and Social Reformer — the Nationalist rofor-
miiig national scriptures and national customs on na-
tional lines, by the methods of liberal interpretation,
historic restoration and renovation, ancj the reconcile-
ment of Authori y with Reason and social well-being.

Xlll

Under this head will come : —

(1) The Raja as a Hindu Reformer, religious as
well as social ; a Restorer of Hindu Scriptural Truth
and Revelation.

(2) The Raja as a Christian Reformer, the Inter-
preter and Reformer of Christian Scriptural Truth
and Revelation,

D. — Classification of the Raja’s Works.

I. The Raja’s works written from the Cosmopoli-
tan or Universalist or Rationalist point of view t —

Prarthanapatra, Brahmopasana, Trust-Deed,
Brahma- Sangity English prefaces to the English Tran-
slations of the (Jpanishads, Preface to the Precepts
of Jesus.

“ Answer of a Hindu etc.” ‘‘Letter on the Pros-
pects of, a Unitarian Christian Mission,” “Tuhfatul
Muwahhiddin” (early stage).

“Letter on Education,” “ Petitions in connection
with the liberty of the Press.”

The Raja’s “ Communications to the Board of
Control,” “Brief Remarks regarding Modern En-
croachments on the Anciea*' Rights of Females etc.,”
the Essay on the Rights of Hindus over Ancestral
Property according to the Law of Bengal.

II. Raja’s works as a Religious Reformer and
Scripture-restorer.

1. The Raja’s works touching Hindu religious
or socio-religious matters.

These may be brought under the following
heads : —

XIV

(a) The Raja’s real and rational views put in a
Hindu garb (e. g. Shastric authorities alluded to in
Brahmopasana, Prefaces to the Bengali translations
of the Upanishads, etc.) Defence of Hindu Theism,
Parts I & II.

{h) What the Raja really thought was the
meaning of the pure and original Hindu Scriptures
(the work of restoration and renovation). Here
the Raja took his stand on the Upaninhads (Vedas)
and the Vedanta Sutras (authoritative redaction of
the Vedas) as Hindu Scripture or Revelation, e.y.,
Vedantasar, Vedanta- Bhashy a, Upanishads, Vajra-
S%ichi, etc.

N, Zi.— Here the llaja, taking his stand on the Hindu Scrip-
tures, accepts the infallibility of the Vedas, the doctrine of Absolute
Monism {Advaitahada), of Maya, of metempsychosis, of Karma and
also for purposes of reconstruction, the outer myths- and para-
phernalia of Vedantisiu. He, however, interprets these doctrines
in a fruitful and suggestive way, or makes them non-essential
matters. It must be remembered that <*'.e liaja philosophically
accepted the doctrines of Advaikivada, Mayavada and possibly also
of Ile-incarnation, (though this is mssle non-essential). These
doctrines were so interpreted as to make them consistent with the
rational and ethical basis of Religion and Society.

(c) Controversies and discussions with Hindu
sectarians such as Vaishnavas, Saktas, &c.

Also the Raja’s propaganda of Hindu socio-reli-
gious reform, e. g., Chari-Prasn&r Uttar, Pathya-
Pi'adan, Gusioamir-Sahti- Vichar, Kavitakarer-Sahit-
Vichar, etc., (conducted in Bengali) also Saii-dahavi-
sayak-Pravandha (English as well as Bengali.)

Here the Raja’s rationalism is apparently at its
w‘’akest. Eor, not only the Vedas, but also the

XV

Sinritis, Paranas and Tantras are employed as sacred
authorities by the Raja quite in accordance with the
Hindu canons of scriptural interpretation. While
express Hindu doctrines such as Avatar (Incarnation
and Partial Incarnation) are recognised and sacred
authors admitted for the well-known Puranas, &c.,
the Raja interprets them all so as to make them
compatible with the purest rationalism. For example,
incarnation is shown by Shastric, authoidties to be
inapplicable to God, but only to the created and
perishable gods and goddesses ; and belief in the
existence of the latter as higher degrees of finite
beings is deprived of all religious or spiritual signi-
ficance and thus reduced to harmlessness. A Hand-
book of Hinduism, according to the Raja, giving the
substance of his redactions of all Hindu scriptures
(including Puranas and Tantras), his proofs and
authorities, and his interpretations, would prove
extremely useful in the present age, and may bo
prepared on the basis of works of this and the preced-
ing class {(> and c).

(fi) Works defending Hindu Scriptures and
their teachings from Christian (Missionary) attack,
fi.g Brahmanical Magazine, Letters of Ram Doss.

Here the Raja attempts a rational exposition and
harmony (Samanvajia) of the Hindu philosophical .sys-
tems, and turns the table skilfully against orthodox
(Missionary) Christianit 3 ^ These works stand next
to (a) in point of rationalism and freedom of judg-
ment.

2. The Raja’.s works touching the Christian
Religion.

XVI

(a) The RajVs views in a Christian garb, i e.
invested with the authority of the Chris-
tian scriptures, e. g., Precepts of Jesus.

(b) & (c) What the Raja thought was really

the meaning of the original Christian
Scriptures (the work of Christian Res-
toration and Interpretation) ; also his
controversies with the Missionaries.

This work of Christian Restoration has borne
fruit in helping forward the movement of Unitarian
Christianity, so much so that the Raja holds a high
and honoured place with Price, Priestley, and Chan-
ning in the history of that movement. '

Here the Raja, accepting the infallibility of the
Bible, has to admit miracles including Resurrection,
Mediatorship and Saviourship of Christ, his supre-
macy over all creatures, his pronouncing final doom
or judgment, &c. He, however, seeks to disprove
from the ITible the Divinity or dual nature of Christ,
and the Trinity of the Godhead ; and also the doc-
trines of Vicarious Atonement and Imputation. The
miracles are ignored as non-religious and the Mediator-
ship and Saviourship explained in such a way as to
become comparatively harmless from the rationalist’s
point of view, and as compatible with the latter as
possible.

(e. g. The Three Appeals to the Christian Public,
The Missionary and Chinese Converts, etc. the latter,
a masterpiece of satire quite worthy of Voltaire at
his best.)

The Raja was no doctrinaire. He had a whole-
some historical instinct, a love of concrete embodi-

XVll

meats and iustitutions, sach as characterise the bora
religious and social reformer. A rationalist and
uuiversalist in every pulse of his being, he was no
believer in the cult of the worship of Reason, of
naked Logical Abstractions. The universal guiding
principle of the love of God and Man he sought and
found in the Scriptures of the nations, and rose from
the barren religion of Nature or Theophilanthropy of
his eighteenth century predecessors to a liberal inter-
pretation and acceptance of the Historic Revelation
and Scriptures, not indeed in any supernatural sense
but as embodiments of the collective sense of races of
mankind, and as conserving and focussing that prin-
ciple of Authority, which, in this mundane state, is
an indispensable cement and foundation, an element-
ary factor of communal life, whether in the social,
the political or the religious sphere.

“ I have often lamented,” says the Raja, “ that
in our general researches into theological truth, we
are subjected to the conflict of many obstacles.
When we look to the traditions of ancient nations,
we often find them at variance with each other ; and
when discouraged by this circumstance, we appeal
to reason as a surer guide, we soon find how incom-
petent it is, alone, to conduct us to the object of our
pursuit. We often find that, instead of facilitating
our endeavours or clearing up our perplexities, it
only serves to generate an universal doubt, incom-
patible with principles on which our comfort and
happiness mainly depend. The best method, perhaps,
is, neither to give ourselves up exclusively to the
guidance of the one or the other ; but by a proper use
3

XVlll

of the lights furnished by both, endeavour to improve
our intellectual and moral faculties . . . . ^

This has the ring of the "" large utterance of the
early gods/’ and in ifcs sanity, its balance, its nice
mental equipoise, is beyond the reach of the Vol-
taires and Volneys of tlje world. This rationalistic
Raja has verily been the founder and father of the
nineteenth century conception of the Scriptures which
discards supernaturalisin and miracle-monging, and
yet retains and reassures for the race those precious
treasures, those storehouses of moral and spiritual
force, and of living Authority. The Raja’s method
of interpretation was at once a’ 'Novum Organum’
applied to the scriptures of the world, and a sure
instinct anticipating the historic and evolutionary
method of modern sociology. The essential and vital
principles held in solution in the Hindu and Christian
cultures and civilizations precipitated themselves,
and the spirit of reason and universalism was breathed
into those ancient bodies for giving them an im-
mortality of youth and fresh national vigour.

IN MEMORIAM.

%

‘‘Nay, in every epoch of the world, the great event,
the parent of all others, is it not,” asks Carlyle, “the
arrival of a Thinker in the world !” Yes, the appearance
of a master mind on the stage marks the beginning of a
new order of things. It heralds the coming of
other important events in its train. The great event,
namely, the arrival of a Thinker, is only the promise,
the fulfilment comes later on. The Thinker may
come and go like a flash of lightning. But in that
flash lies tho earnest of many a shower to come. The
epoch-maker is often a riddle to his contemporaries.
He is hardly understood in his own tinfies. He has
often to leave his field of work before he can say :
‘‘Let me, O Lord, now depart in peace, for mine
eyes have seen thy cause pro.?per.” Persecuted,
reviled and treated as a traitor to society, he departs
from the world, deriving what comfort he may,
from his faith in the ultimate triumph of truth.
Little does he know at ths' time that pheenix-like
others will arise out of his ashes to take up the
forlorn cause ^ and to carry it forward.' If we look
into the era that has dawned upon the country with
the life and labours of the illustrious Raja Rammohun
Roy, we find, history repeating itself. It was only a
distant hope that cheered the Raja in his lonely
toils, in his single-handed endeavours after the
betterment of his benighted country. “By taking,
says he in his [nfroduction to tho Ahrid(]ment of the

XX

Vedanta, “the path which conscience and sincerity
direct, I, born a Brahman, have exposed myself to
the complainings and reproaches even of some of my
relations, whose prejudices are strong, and whose
temporal advantage depends upon the present
system. But these, however accumulated, I can
tranquilly bear, trusting that a day will arrive when
ray humble endeavours will be viewed with justice —
perhaps acknowledged with gratitude. At any rate,
whatever men may say, I cannot be deprived of this
^consolation ; my motives are acceptable to that
Being who beholds in secret and compensates openly.”

That day is come and his prophecy fulfilled. By
the new race of Indians their debts to the father of the
Indian Renaissance are freely acknowledged, parti-
cularly in the anniversary meetings held all over the
country on the 27th of September. The awakened
Indian finds to his surprise that almost all the prob-
lems of modern Indian life occurred to the great man
who came to show him the way., Not a mere religious
reformer was he, though religion occupied the foremost
place in his thought and activities. He took life as a
whole, and not by compartments. And this distin-
guishes him from any rnedimval saint born in modern
times. If any conception of religion is needed at
present in this country, which is slowly emerging from
mediaevalism into modern life, it is the all-round
conception of religion enunciated by the Raja. Even
those who do not see eye to eye with him in matters
religious find his programme of reform suited, to,
and comprehensive of, modern Indian conditions.
Advocates of social reform or of political regeneration

XXI

look in vain for a better guide in their particular
spheres of activity. The lines laid down by the great
patriot-reformer turn out, even after the lapse of a cen-
tury, almost the only lines to be followed. The recog-
nition of the great thinker and reformer by his country
was bound to come. And it has come. The children’s
children of those who threatened to take his life are
now looking up to him fc»r light and guidance.

While on earth he was a living light-fountain
which it was good and profitable to be near. Even
now, when no mortal eyes can s^e him, no mortal ears
can hear him, he has been guiding the steps of his
countrymen. Nay, to his country and people he is
more acceptable in resurrection than in ife. The
good shepherd’s voice is not still in death but is
reverberating in our cars and claiming our closest
attention. But a man of Rammohun’s originality and
comprehensiveness stands towering above us like a
majestic oak, more an object of wondering admiration
than of sober apprehension. His height is not to be
lightly scanned, his depth easily fathomed. He is
an inexhaustible study.

HOW TO STUDY RAMMOHUN.

In studying master minds like Plato and Aristotle
the first requisite is a full and accurate list of their
authentic and extant writings arranged in a chronologi-
cal order. This is done with a view to tracing their
mental history or the development of their ideas. The
same has to be done in the case of tlie .Raja. The chief
difficulties that He in the way of the students of Plato
and Aristotle are experienced in determining the
authenticity and the date of composition of their
works. Except in regard to the date of the Tnhfutul
Mutvahhldhi these difficulties do not- occur in the
case of Rammohun. This Persian treatise is gene-
rally held to be his earliest publication written
about 1804 A. ]). while- the liaja was residing at
Murshidabad. But .Dr. Brajendranath Seal thinks that
it could not have been written before 1810, when Ram-
mohun was serving under Mr. Digby at-Rungpur and
had acce.ss to Locke and Hume through the medium
of English. Apart from this difficulty of date there is
no question of authenticity about it.

Among the other works of the Raja, however,
some were published in the name of his friends and disci-
ples and that for the obvious reason that the reformer
would not take on himself the full responsibility of the
views expressed in them. The real difficulty here is
that of interpretation, in other words, how to find the
Raja’s real mind in matters of creed and belief. For
this purpose a classification of his works i s of primary

XXIU

importance. Then there are his letters or extracts
from his letters. But extracts from Rammohun’s cor-
respondence are second in evidential value to the
Raja’s published writings, first, being without context
and secondly, being adapted to the private opinions and
sentiments of the person addressed. Next, the well
established acts of the Raja are of importance in the
deterrnination of his views. After all these, must come
the reports recorded of him, what others have written
about him from personal knowledge or what amounts
to it. We have to remember the fact that the Raja is
found at one and the same time pursuing different series
of ideas. Having risen to the height of Universal Re-
ligion, Rammohun took upon hiniaelf the complicated
task of interpreting Hinduism to ifindus, Christianity
to Christians, and Islam to Mo.slems. And the work of
interpretation proceeded simultanoou.sl}^. Here lies the
root of the greater complexity tliat we experience in
the case of Rammohun than in that of Plato or
Aristotle. The student of Rammohun must be prepared
for all this industry, if he would arrive at the basic
ideas of Rammohun’s thought and life.

The Raja’s mental develcpmejit can be clearly traced
in the succession of his literary works as well as of
his practical activities as a reformer. From an
iconoclastic zeal and fervour in the spirit of the purest
rationalism he proceeded to the open revolt of Jacobin-
ism, the protest of the individual against the accumu-
lated tradition of the Church and the Schools. But
this was followed by a movement of affirmation, which
was, however, at the outset only speculative in charac-
ter. He reached certain positions regarding the

XXIV

and srw*J^. — the soul, the world, and the
absolute, but he did not stop there. He found the
support of the Vedanta (Brahma Sutra) for those
positions, and this gradually weaned him from his
rationalistic individualism, the more so as he found
a similar support of the rule of the moral reason in the
precepts of the Christian scriptures. He was thus
led to seek the reconciliation of individual reason with
scriptural authority. But the next stage of his life and
activities was even more important in its influence on
his mental history. He became a doughty champion
of social reform, whether in the domain of food and
drink, of customary taboos, of rites and ceremonials or
matters affecting the status of women in social life ;
and this constructive activity changed his intellectual
as well as ethical outlook. He now saw the deep
foundations of social customs and morals as conserved
or consolidated by the Shustras of a race, and henceforth
he sought to pursue the work of a nationalist (and
ethnio) social reformer side by side with his survey of
the progress of man in Universal History. He studied
the great monotheistic cults of the Vedanta, the Koran
and the Bible, in the light of the dogmas and doctrines
which were the moulds or vehicles of the characteristic
race-consciousness which have ruled the world ; and he
diligently explored the juristic, ethical and customary
developments of those cults along their own proper
lines of tradition and historic continuity. But behind
and beyond these, he saw the workings of Universal
Man ill history, and of this faith and vision he was the
prophet and precursor. This gave him the secret of
reconciliation and harmony not merely of reason with

XXV

authority, of individual freedom with custom and
tradition, but also of cult with cult, of race with race,
of the East with the West, and of both with God in
the world, God in Nation and History alike. His
educational, juristic, economic and social reform, as
well as his political ideal, and finally his religious
constructions in later life, were all the outcome of this
changed mood, which had enriched his mind and
soul with the blood of Humanity and made him the
epitome of Mankind.

INTRODUCTION.

THE DATE OF THE TUHPAT.

Among the works of Raja Rammohun Roy
Tuhfattd Muwahhidin (Gift to the Monotheists)
oeeupies a very important place. It is written in
Persian with a preface in Arabic. The only other book
so written which we know by name is Manazaratiil
Adyan (a discussion on various religions), though the
book has not come down to us. The rationalism of
the Raja, without which Rammohun would not have
been the cosmopolite and universalist that he was,
free from ethnic, national and historic embodiments
and limitation, stands out prominently in the
The Raja is ununderstandable without his rationalism.
No doubt, the rationalism of the Tuhfat stage
was modified later on, but it never wholly left
him. Strangely enough the impression persists that
the Tuhfat is a production of an immature mind,
which it certainly is not. This impression is respon-
sible for the Tuhfat being regarded as a very early
and juvenile publication of the Raja.

The first edition, with the year of its publication
given, cannot now be found. ' So we are driven to
speculate about the approximate date which can be
reasonably assigned to the treatise in the light of
both external and internal evidence. Those who
take the book to be a juvenile production think that
Rajpmohun referred to this work in 1820 in his first

Xxvii

Appeal to the Christian Public in the following
words :

“He is safe in ascribing the collection of these
precepts to Rammohun Roy, who, although he was
born a Brahman, not only renounced idolatry at a very
early period of his life, but published at that time
a treatise in A.rabic and Persian against that system ;
and no sooner acquired a tolerable knowledge of
English, than he made his desertion of idol worship
known to the Christian world by his English publica-
tion — -a renunciation that, I am sorry to say, brought
severe difficulties upon him by exciting the displeasure
of his parents, &c.”

The English publication here referred to is in
their opinion the translation of an abridgment of
the Vedanta, published in 181 G. They argue
that if 1774 is accepted as the year of his birth
Rammohun was 4G years in 1820, 28 in 1802, 29
in 1803, 3G in 1810 and 39 in 1813 [if 1772 be allow-
ed as tlie year of his birth, all these years must be
raised by two]. He iniglit at the age of 46 (or 48)
have said that when he was 28 and 29 (or 30 and 31),
he was at a very early period of his life. But he
could under no circumstances have so describe his age
in the 36th or the 39th year (or in the 38th or the
41st year). If the treatise is placed earlier than
1802, it would better agree with the language of
the passage quoted above. But it does not seem
at all possible to put the date of the treatise at
1810 or 1813.

The fallacy of the argument lies in thinking that
the .A.rabico-Persian book to which the • Raja refers

XXVlll

in his first Appeal is no other than the Tuhfat, It
is a mistake to confound the Tuhfat with th6 simple
anti-idolatry pamphlet which was the occasion for
the young Rammohuri, then about 16, being turned
out of home by his irate father. The reference can
never be to the Tuhfat. We have Hammohun's own
statement on the following points :

(1) That he renounced idolatry at a very early
period of his life.

(2) That he published at that time a treatise in
Arabic and Persian against that system.

(3) That he acquired a tolerable knowledge of
English after the publication of this treatise.

When did liammohun renounce idolatry ? Was
it at the age of 15 or 16 or at the age of 28 and 29
(or 30 and 31) ? William Adam wrote of Kammohun
in 1826; “He seems to have been religiously disposed
from his early youth, having proposed to seclude him-
self from the world as a Saimyasi or devotee at
the age of fourteen, from which ho was only dissuaded
by the entreaties of his mother.” Thus the religious
crisis in Ratnmohun’s life came when he was
in his teens. Next we have Rammohuii’s own state-
ment in his evidence in the Burdwan law-suit that
far from inheriting the property of his deceased
father he had during his father’s life-time separated
from him and the rest of the family in consequence
of his altered habits of life and change of opinions,
which did nob permit their living! together. His
father Ram Kanta Roy died in 1803. So the
altered habits of life and change of opinions, or, in
other words, renouncement of idolatry by Rammohun

XXIX

must have taken place long before the year 1803,
the year of his father’s death. This leads us to con-
clude that the book referred to by Kammohun was
published by him long before that year. For on the
authority of Mr. Adam we know that after separating
from his father Rammohun was obliged to reside for
ten or twelve years at Benares far away from all his
friends and relatives, who lived on the family estate
at Burdwan in Bengal.

We have seen that the anti-idolatry pamphlet
in Arabic and Persian was written by Rammohun
long before 1803. Rammohun .says in the passage
already quoted : ‘‘Rammohun Roy ; who, although
he was born a Brahman not only renounced
idolatry at a very early period of liis life, but
published at that time a treatise in Arabic and
Persian against that system ; and no sooner acquired
a tolerable knowledge of English than ho made his
desertion of idql worship known to the Christian
world by his English publication — a renunciation
that, I am sorry to say, brouglit severe difficulties
upon him by exciting the displeasure of his parents,”
&c. The parenthetical .sentence attached to the
passage establishes beyond doubt that the anti-
idolatry pamphlet was published during the life-time
■of Rammohun’s father.

Miss Collet writes, ‘‘Relieved from the fear of
paining his father, Rammohun soon began to make
his heresies known to the world. He removed to
Murshidabad, the old Moghul Capital of Bengal, and
there he published his first work, a treatise in Persian
(with an Arabic preface), entitled Tuhfatvl

XXX

MuwahiHdin or Gift to Monotheists. This was a bold
protest against the idolatrous element in all esta.blished
religions.”

If we take Murshidabad to be the place where
the Tuhfat was written, it is not probable that it was
written during the tiino (1803-4) Miss Collet assigns to
it. It might be that immediately after his retirement
the Raja spent some time at the declining Moghul
Capital. For Miss Collet writes, “ I conclude that
it must have been in one of these (either the Tuhfat
or the Manazara) that Rarnmohun made some rather
sarcastic remarks on Mahomet to which reference is
made by several of his biographers as having excited
an amount of anger against him among the Mahom-
inedans which was the chief cause of his removing
to Calcutta.” In Mr. Leonard’s History of the
Brahmo Samaj (p. 27) these sarcastic remarks
are said to occur in the Tahfat but certaiidy no such
passage is to be found there. From the fact of his
removing to Calcutta it is safer to conclude that this
removal took place in 1814. For we know nothing of
Rarnmohun ever residing in Calcutta during 1804 or
1805. Besides, Murshidabad is not the only place,
associated with Rammohun’s publication of Persian
treatises. Babu Nagendrauath Chatterjee writes on
the authority of Jnananjana (reprinted in 1838), the
book written by Gauri Kaata Bhattacharya, Ram-
mohun’s opponent at Ruugpur, that the Raja wrote
Persian pamphlets there as also translated portions
of the Vedanta into Bengali. Whether Rungpur or
Murshidabad be the place where the Tuhfat was
published, it is certain that it is nob the anti-idolatry

XXXI

pamphlet, alluded to by the Raja in his First Appetnl
to the Christian Public.

Rammohun’s pamphlet was against idolatry,
evidently against Hindu idolatry. No academic dis-
cussion of the idolatrous element in all established
religions such as we find in the Tahfal, would have
given the offence that it did. Moreover, the Tuhfat
is more directly concerned with prophetisin, revelation,
priest-craft and miracles than with idolatry. What-
ever else the Tuhfat may be, it is certainly not the
anti-idolatry pamphlet, referred to in his First
Appeal to the Christian Public.

Ijeonard in his History of the Brahma Samnj says
that the early pamphlet (according to him in Bengali)
was composed at the ago of fifteen and the Tuhfat
thirteen years later. That the early pamphlet was
in Persian and Arabic has already been proved. In
what is known as the autobiographical letter, what-
ever may bo its value as an authentic document, it is
said that the Rajsi wrote the pamphlet “when about
the age of sixteen.” If we follow Ijeonard in his
calculation, the Tuhfat was composed at the age of
28 or 29 . Prom the autobiographical letter we
know that Rammohun first began to associate with
Europeans after being recalled home at the age of
twenty. Rammohun was twenty-two when he
first began to learn English. Not pursuing it with
application, after five years, i.e., at the age of 27 ,
when Mr. Digby first met him, he could merely speak
it well enough to be understood upon the most
common topics of discourse, but could not write it
with any degree of correctness. This meeting of

XXXll

Kammohun and Digby took place between the years
1799 and 1801. Mr. Digby was Register at
Ramgarh from 1805 to 1808, Register at Bhagalpur
in 1808-9 and Collector at Rungpur from 1809 to
1814. Rammohun mentions his having resided at
Ramgarh, Bhagalpur and Rungpur in his evidence
in the Burdwan law-suit. We may safely take him
to be serving under Digby in the year 1805. Mr.
Digby says : “ By pursuing all my public corres-
pondence with diligence and attention as well as by
corresponding and conversing with European gentle-
men he acquired so correct a knowledge of the
English language as to be enabled to write and speak
it with considerable accuracy.” From this it 'is
plain that he learnt English while serving under Digby.
He was employed as Dowan at Rungpur where
Dio'by was Collector from 1809 to 1814. By the time
he was Dewan we may take it that he had acquired a
tolerable knowledge of English.

If the Tuhfat was written after his having
acquired a knowledge of the English tongue, it
must bear the stamp of his acquaintance with
English Authors. If it does, it was certainly not
written before his Rungpur days

As to the distinct influence of AVesiern thought
and culture on the Tuhfat, it should be noted that
though the form and the tone of the treatise is given
by the distinctive personality and temperament of
Rammohun it is not without materials pressed into
,',ervice from Locke and Hume. The rationalistic
note, uttered in the Tuhfat, is neither San.skritic nor
Arabic, but Western. The Mimansakas and the

Blatazalas in i^eir rationalistic treatment of revelation
proceed on grounds essentially different from those,
advanced by the Haja in this treatise which are
unmistakably derived from the rationalist thinkers of
the 18th Century in Europe.

The signal difference between the Tuhfatul type
of rationalism and the old-world rationalism of the
Matazalas and some of the Mimansakas lies in the
predominantly psychological and sociological
emphasis of the former and the predominantly
speculative bias of the latter. The Kaja of the
Tuhfatul as a true intellectual descendant of the
Humanity of the Renaissance and the Freethinkers
of the Illumination sought the origin of error in
psychological sources like self-interest, customary
association and personal bias or predilection, or again
in the trend of social opinion, of inherited tradition and
social usages or early inculcation and training.
Bacon, Locke, Hume, Helvetius, and Voltaire had
exploited the sources of error in the natural workings
of the human mind or in the constitution of human
society and had fought against the idols of the race
and the cave, of the theatre and the schools with
weapons of subtle psychological analysis, edged with,
keen satire ' and mordant irony and the writer
of the Tuhfatul was indeed the last of that band of
doughty champions of truth.

The following passage for instance reminds us of
the Raja’s acquaintance with Locke : —

The fact is this, that each individual on account of the
ooQstant hearing of the wonderful and impossible stories of bis

5

XXXIV

by-gone religious heroes and praise of the good effects of the
dogmatic creed of that nation among whom he has been born
and brought up, from his relatives and neighbours during the
time of boyhood when his faculties were most susceptible of
receiving impressions of the ideas conveyed to him, acquires
such a firm belief in the dogmas of his religion that he can-
not renounce his adopted fiiith, although most of its doctrines
be obviously nonsensical and absurd. He prefers that faith
to all others and continues always to observe its rites and
ceremonies and thereby he becomes daily more firmly
attached to it ; hence it is evident that a man having adopted
one particular religion with such firmness, his sound mind
after reaching the age of maturity with acquired knowledge
of books, without being inclined to make enquiries into the
truth of the admitted propositions of so many years, is
insufiicient to discover the real truth. (Pp. 2*3.)

The influence of Hume and the Eiicycloptedists is
discernible in the following : —

As the foundation of the permanence of (all) religions is
based on belief in the existence of the soul (which is defined to
be a substance governing the body) and on the existence of the
next world, (which is held to be tne place for receiving
compensation for the good and evil deeds done in this world,
after the separation of the soul from the body), they (mankind)
are to be excused for admitting and teaching the doctrine of
the existence of the soul and the next world (although the real
existence of the soul and the next world is hidden and mysteri-
ous) for the sake of the welfare of the people (society), as they
simply, for fear of punishment in the next world and the
penalties inflicted by the worldly authorities, refrain from the
commission of illegal deeds. (P. 5.)

In the passage that follows Locke and the
Rationalists are in evidence : —

XXXV

Holiness to God ! ife is strange to say) that not-
withstanding these ardent enthusiasms on the part of the
mujtahids or doctors of religion, there is always an innate
faculty existing in the nature of mankind that if any person
of sound mind, before or after assuming the doctrines of any
religion, makes an enquiry into the nature of the principles
of religious doctrines, primary or secondary, laid down by
different nations, without partiality and with a sense of justice,
there is a strong hope that he will be able to distinguish truth
from untruth and the true propositions from the fallacious
ones, and also he, becoming free from the useless restraints of
religion, which sometimes become sources of prejudice of one
against another and causes of physical and mental troubles
will turn to the One Being who is the fountain of the
harmonious organization of the universe, and will pay attention
to the good of society. (Pp. 5-6.)

The passage, we next quote, also bespeaks the
Raja’s acquaintance with Locke : —

These persons do not make any distinction between the
beliefs which are the results of special teaching and custom
and those creeds that originate in the intuitive (lit, summary)
belief in the existence of the Source of Creation, which is an
indispensable characteristic of man. ...(P. 8.)

Hume on miracles could nob have been unknown
to Rainmohun when he wrote : —

The utmost which we can say on this matter is that in some
instances, notwithstanding one possessing keen and penetrative
sagacity, the cause of some wonderful things remains unknown
to some people. In such cases we ought to have recourse to
our own intuition and put to it the following query : viz,,
whether it is more compatible with reason to be convinced
of our own inability to understand the cause or to attribute
it to some impossible agency inconsistent with the law of

XXXVl

nature? I think our intuition will prefer the first. Moreover,
what necessity is theri?, that we should believe in these things
which are inconsistent with rational conclusion (q/as) and have
not been observed personally ; for instance, raising the dead,
ascending to heaven, &c., which are said to have occurred
many hundreds of years agof (P, 10.)

The following must be traced to a careful study
of Locke’s Conduct of the Human Understanding
by the Raja : —

Ib is to be vvoodered at, that although people in worldly
transactions without knowing the connection of one thing
with another do not believe that the one is the cause and the
other the effect, yet when there is the influence of religion
and faith, they do nob hesitate bo call one the cause and the other
the effect, notwithstanding the fact that there is no connection
or sequence between the two. (Pp. 10-11.)

The Raja says in the Tuhfat that, in short, the
individuals of mankind, regarded as those who are
deceivers and those who are deluded and those who
are not either, belong to four classes. This fourfold
classification is evidently conceived in the spirit of
Voltaire and Volney.

In laying down canons of historical criticism
Rammohun observes : —

Notwithstanding this, whenever any doubtful discrepancy
arises in the history of any by-gone kings in the matter of
descent or genealogy, the reports about them are set aside
or thrown away from reliance. For instance, the traditions
about Alexander the Great’s conquering China and his birth
are mutually contradictory as given by the historians of
Greece and Persia, therefore, they are not to be believed
with certainty. (P. 16.)

XXXVll

Whether we take into consideration the rationalism
of the Raja, which is of a different type from that
of the Charvakas or Zindiqs, or his acquaintance with
the western historians, we come to tlie irresistible
conclusion that he had come under the influence of
western rationalists and Eucyclopmdists before writing
the Tuhf M. His acquaintance witli the English
tongue could never have been such till at least 1810
as would enable him to have access to Locke, Hume,
Gibbon, Newton and others whom we find referred to
in the Raja’s later works. The Raja settled in Calcutta
in 1 8 1 4 and it is here that the Tuhf at stage of the Raja’s
rationalism is found undergoing modification. In a
letter, dated 1816, Mr. Yates writes, “I was intro-
duced to him (Raminohun) about a year ago ; before
this, he was not acquainted with anyone who cared
for his soul. Sometime after I introduced Austace
Carey to him and we have had repeated conversations
with him. When T first knew him, he would talk
only on metaphysical subjects, such as the eternity
of matter, the nature and qualities of evidence, &c.,
but he has lately become much more humble and
disposed to converse about the Gospel."

Thus the last echoes of his Rungpur rationalism
were heard in Calcutta even in 1815. We can now
without hesitation place the date of the Tuhfat between
1810 and 1813. The Raja was then in the full
vigour of his mind and had access to the 18th Century
rationalism of the West. It is wrong to suppose
with Miss Collet that “The treatise is important as
the earliest available expression of his mind and as
showing his eagerness to bear witness against

XXXVlll

eBtablkhed error; but it is too immature to be worth
reproducing as a whole.” Far from being immature
it was written in the maturity of the Raja’s manhood.
That the views were later on modified does not mean
that the production was an immature one. The
scant praise of Miss Collet was due to her not being
able to enter into the meaning and significance of the
matter of the treatise, whose manner (as seen in a
literal and defective translation) repelled her and led
her to a wrong conclusion.

MAKE AND TEXTURE OF THE TUHFAT.

Raja Ramtnohun Roy’s Tuhfat-ul-muwahiddin
is a work of rare distiaction in Indo-Persian litera-
ture. Apart from its advocacy of pure rationalism
uninfluenced by dogmas, conventions or prejudices,
and its rejection of the inspired priests, prophets and
infallible guides of all revealed religions, — it has a
high literary value. The close texture of its reason-
ing, its avoidance of all digressions, its ruthless rejec-
tion of the aid of popular stories as illustrations, the
terseness and lucidity of its language, and the strictly
logical sequence of its arguments, — all make it stand
apart from the polemic literature produced in Persian
or Sanskrit by our old or indigenous scholars.
The style at once marks the Tuh/at out as the work
of a writer familiar with European literary methods
and the writings of European controversialists like
Locke and Voltaire.

At the same time, our author shows his ingenuity
by resorting every now and then to literary devices
which, by reason of their familiarity, are sure to
appeal to Oriental readers of the old school, — such as,
apt quotations from the Quran, familiar verses from
Hafiz, and the very epithets applied to the founder
of Islam by pious believers. He thus disarms their
natural hostility to a preacher of brand-new or
foreign doctrines and carries them with himself to the
end of his treaties.

Such a book could have been produced only by a
mature intellect familiar with the polemic literature

xl

of the East and the West alike, and not by a hot-
headed young iconoclast.

THE ARGUMENT OB^ THE TUHFAT.

Universal and Particular in Human Belief.

Men are generally agreed as to the existence of a
Supreme Being, ‘the Author and the Governor of the
universe.’ When they come to details they differ.
Attributes ascribed to that Being by the followers of
one religion seldom agree with those given by the
adherents of another. They are divided in their ideas
of God, in the creeds they have accepted, in the doct-
rines they have elaborated, in the prescriptions and
prohibitions (Hai'am and Ilalal) they have followed.

From all this, Rammohun concludes that whereas
there are such wide difterences in men’s ideas of God,
in their creeds, in their doctrines, in their notions of
Haram and Ilalal, they must be all artificial products
due to training and habit. The universal assent of
man as to the existence of a Supreme Being does not
fall under this category. With man faith in God is
natural. He believes, not because he is trained to
do so, but because he is so constituted that ho in his
sound mind cannot do without believing.

Claims of Religions Considered.

Belief in a Supreme Being may be common to
all meu, but the religious structures built on that
common foundation are many and varied. Can all
these religions be true ? The Raja answers, certainly

not. For they often represent ideas of God widely
differing from one another, and teach doctrines
diametrically opposite. What is enjoined in one is
prohibited in another. Both, the Raja says, cannot
be true, if the principle of non-contr&diction is a test
of truth. Applying the terms of Arabic Logic, he
declares the absurdity of the proposition that all
religions are true at one and the same time. Even
when it is established that all religions cannot at one
and the same time be true, it may be contended that
a certain religion may be true and the rest false. The
objection does not escape the Raja who at once
demands sufficient reason for giving preference to a
particular religion. The principle of sufficient reason
had long been an accepted canon in Arabic Logic.
It was through Leibnitz that it found its way into
European Logic in the Seventeenth Century. This
principle of sufficient reason has proved a very useful
canon in scientific investigation. The Raja's mind,
cast in the Arabic logical mould, sees through the
fallacy of the objection and rejects it as not satisfying
the condition of the principle of sufficient reason.

Are all religions in the world false, then?

The Raja says, when it eannot be admitted that
all religions are • true, and also any one of them is
particularly true, it must be concluded that every one
of them is false. It may be contended here that what
follows from the Raja’s argument is, not that every
religion is false, but that no religion is proved to be
true. When men of a particular sect assert the truth
of their own religion and the falsity of those of the
6

others, they say something wholly unwarranted by
reason.

How to Search after Truth ?

For an unbiassed inquiry into the truth or falsity
of the principles which differentiate one religion from
another, it is necessary (1) to comprehend ' the real
nature of things created for different purposes and
(2) to know the ranks (values) of different acts whose
effects, though latent at the time, will surely mani-
fest themselves. Both are the essential parts of
human perfection.

What Stands in the Way of Men’s Inquiring
into Truth ?

Men as Vational beings, it may be hoped, will be
found inclined to inquire into truth. But in point
of fact they are far otherwise. What is it that
makes them averse to an inquiry into truth ?
According to the Raja, men do not search after
truth, (1) because leaders of different religions,
actuated by love of praise and honour, have invented
several dogmas of faith, (2) they pretend to have
worked miracles and put them forward as proof of the
validity of their declarations, (3) they have contrived
to gain numerous adherents, (4) these unfortunate
people, deprived of their reason and conscience by an
unquestioning adherence to their leaders, become
habituated to think such abominable crimes as murder,
usurpation and torture as acts of great virtue,
(5) they read myths and legends full of imposs*

xlfli

ibilities to find their faith in the past religious
leaders and the present expounders strengthened,
(6) they consider their salvation depends on
their firm faith in their spiritual leaders and is not
affected by telling lies, and committing breach of
trust, theft, adultery, etc. which are heinous crimes
in reference to the future life and are injurious in their
effect on society, (7) they look upon all inclinations
to make inquiries into the truth of their creed as
resulting from the temptation of Satan, (8) accustomed
to hear wonderful and impossible things they accfuire
such firm belief in the dogmas of their creed, most of
whose doctrines are obviously nonsensical and absurd,
that they think some stones or plants or animals to
be the real objects of their worship, and (9) in opposing
those who may attempt to destroy those objects of
their worship or to insult them, they think shedding
the blood of others or sacrificing their own lives an
object of glory in this world and a cause of salva-
tion in the next.

Society and Religion.

The question next discussed is the sociological
basis of religion. The Raja was surely familiar with
the famous theory of social contract which, in account-
ing for the origin of law and usage, he accepted in
a slightly modified form. But he rejected it
altogether as incompetent to explain the origin of
society. Society, he held, was no artificial product,
and could never bo the outcome of a concert attained
at a particular time. In the Tuhfat Rammohun is
quite explicit as regards the fact that men are by

xliv

nature social beings. Their social instincts make it
necessary for them to live together and to keep one
another’s company. Thus men must be always thought
of as members of society, as living, moving and
having their being in society. What are the primary
conditions of this social life ? First, language as a
medium of expression and communication of ideas ;
secondly, law and usage defining individual property
and safeguarding the individual’s interests and person
from aggression ; thirdly, some fundamental religious
beliefs ; such as belief in the soul apart from the body,
in future life, and in reward and punishment to be
meted out in that life.

It may be naturally asked why the Raja does not
here say that a belief in God is among the consti-
tuents of society. The reply is, this belief in God
is involved in the belief in future reward and punish-
ment. It is not necessary to refer to the Source of
Creation and His perfection in speaking of what
constitutes society. The social life of man has necess-
arily expressed itself in (1) language, (2) law and
custom, (3) religion. Thus religion is one of the
constituents of society ; it is sociological in its nature.
Viewed in this light it is society that includes and
involves religion, not religion that includes society.

According to Rammohun men cannot do with-
out believing in the soul and in the next world
(though their real existence is a mystery and hidden
from them). These are all that men are called upon
to believe. Men have never gone beyond what are
thus indispensable wi thout doing harm to that very
social life which religious beUefs are intended to

foster. The Raja says that to the belief in these two
indispensable doctrines, hundreds of useless hardships
and privations regarding eating and drinking, purity
and impurity, auspioiousness and inauspiciousness, &e.
have been added, to the injury and detriment of social
life, — not to its betterment.

What does the Raja mean by saying that “the
real existence of the soul and the next world is
hidden and mysterious” ? He means that we can only
postulate the existence of the soul and the next
world without possessing any definite knowledge of
what they are in themselves. In the opinion of the
Raja even the popular notions of the soul, future
life, heaven and hell have not been without their use
to society, for the fear of punishment in the next
world no less than in this has helped to deter the
illiterate vulgar from the commission of illegal deeds.

Investigation of Truth.

There is, says Ramrnohun, an innate faculty in man
by virtue of which any person of sound mind making
an honest and impartial inquiry into the nature of
the principles of religious doctrines, primary or
secondary, laid down by different nations, can legitimate-
ly hope to be able to distinguish truth from untruth
and the true propositions from the fallacious ones and
also to arrive at the belief in the one Being who is
the source and origin of the harmonious organisation
of the universe and to devote himself to the good of
society.

xlvi

Revealed Religion as opposed to Natural Religion.

The Raja in the Tuhfat recognises no historic
revealed religion. God is no respecter of persons or
races. It is quite evident that all men equally enjoy
the external blessings of nature and no less equally
do they suiFer from inconvenience and pain, the fact
of their being followers of a particular religion having
nothing to do in the matter. As in the external world,
so in the inner world of reason and conscience, law
holds good, leaving no room for special intervention or
dispensation. Hence the Raja argues that it cannot
be maintained that all men have been created to
observe the tenets of a particular religion, the followers
of other religions being made liable to punishment.

The Twofold Belief.

Rammohun holds that each individual member
of mankind has an innate faculty in him by which he
can infer that there exists a Being who (with His
wisdom) governs the whole universe. Independently
of instruction or guidance, simply by keen insight into
and deep observation of the mysteries of the universe,
each individual arrives at this belief. But men are
seldom found to confine themselves to this radical and
legitimate belief. They go a step further in believing
what is current in the society in which they have
been brought up. Every individual belonging to a
particular group professes belief in the existence
of a particular Divinity (with particular attributes
ascribed to Him) and adopts the peculiar tenets
of the creed he is found to follow. Some

xlvii

believe in a God with human attributes like
anger, mercy, hatred and love, others in a Being
comprehending and extending all over nature, a
few are inclined towards atheism or are found to
hold Time or Nature to be the creative principle
of the universe; some others give divine attributes to
created beings and make them objects of worship.
These persons do not make any distinction between
the beliefs which are the results of special teaching
and custom and those creeds that originate in the
intuitive belief in the existence of the Source of
Creation, which is an indispensable characteristic of
man. Under the influence of habit and custom and
incognisant of the connection between cause and effect,
they believe that bathing in a river or worshipping
a tree or becoinin ^ a monk and purchasing forgiveness
of their sins from the high- priests, etc., may be the
cause of salvation and purification from the sins of
a whole lifetime. A.nd they think that this purifica-
tion is the effect of the objects adored by them and
the miracles of their priests, and not the result of
their own belief and fancy, while these things do not
produce any effect on those men who do not agree
with them in those beliefs. Had there been any real
effect in these imaginary things, it must have been
common to all peoples of different persuasions. For
although the strength of an effect varies according
to the different capacities of the persons subject to it,
yet it is not dependent upon the belief of a particular
believer.

Miracles.

In the Tuhfat Rammohun has rejected miracles
altogether. The very idea of supernatural acts or
miracles is to him a pure and simple invention of the
interested founders of religions. Miracles are ascribed
to them in order to attribute the origin of particular
religions to themselves and to increase the belief of
the common people in them. After explaining
how the idea of miracles originated he gives his argu-
ments in refutation of miracles ;

I. (a) Taking his stand on Inductive Reason the
Raja says that in this world where things are related to
one another by the sequent relation of cause and eflPect,
the existence of every thing depends upon a certain
cause and condition, so that if we take into consi-
deration the remote causes, we may say that in the
existence of any one thing in nature the whole
universe is concerned.

(6) The Raja is fully alive to the fact that there
are many things, for insMnce, many wonderful inven-
tions of the people of Europe and dexterous feats of
jugglers, whose causes are not easily known and seem
to baffle human comprehension. But the difficulty of
the thing ought to be no reason for intelligent people
jumping to the conclusion that the method of in-
ductive reasoning has no scope here. Through the
exercise of keen insight, or as a result of instructions
from others, the causes which appeared at first un-
knowable can be satisfactorily known.

(c) The utmost tlw.t can be said on this matter
is that the causes of some wonderful things remain

unknown to some people notwithstanding theii*
possessing keen and penetrative sagacity. In snob
cases the Raja would ask people to have recourse to
their own intuition which, he was sure, would make
it clear to them that it was more compatible with
reason to be convinced of their own inability to find
out the cause than to attribute it to some impossible
agency inconsistent with the law of nature.

(d) Moreover, the Raja sees no necessity for
people believing in things which are inconsistent
with rational conclusion {qias) and have not been
observed personally ; for instance, raising the dead,
ascending to heaven, &c., which are said to have
occurred many hundreds of years ago.

(e) The Raja wonders that people, who in ordi-
nary transactions of life are so very particular about
knowing the connection of one thing with another
should be found not to hesitate at all to call one the
cause and the other the effect, notwithstanding the
fact that there is no connection or sequence between
the two ; for instance, the removal of a calamity
by the effect of certain prayers or getting recovery
from disease by the effect of certain charms, araulets,&c.

II. Religious leaders, with a view to the satis-
faction of their followers, sometimes explain that in
matters pertaining to religion and faith reason and
its arguments have nothing to do ; matters religious
depend on faith and Divine help. The Raja, in reply,
says that it is not for rational men to believe in a
matter which has no proof and which is inconsistent
with reason.

7

J

III. (a) They sometimes argue that it is not
impossible for the power of that Omnipotent Creator,
who has from perfect non-entity brought into existenci'* ■
the whole universe, to bring about things inconsistent- ^
with the law of nature.

(6) But this argument does not prove anything
but the possibility of the occurrence of such things,
while they have to prove the actual occurrence of
the miracles of their ancient religious leaders and
modern mujtahids.

(c) Any one in attempting to prove impossible

and inconceivable things might have recourse to such a
proposition during the debate ; so there would be no
difiference between the ideas of ( ) possible and

( ) impossible and consequently the whole founda-

tion of composing syllogism and logical demonstration
would fall to the jjround.

(d) The Creator Himself lias no power to create

impossible things, such as co-partnership with
God, the non-existence of God, or the

existence of two contradictories, &c.

Proofs from Tradition.

The Raja next discusses what is known in Hindu
theology as sabda-praman or proofs from authenticated
traditions.

(a) The doctors of different persuasions, relying
on the faith of their followers, have made the idea of

Ji

Tawatur (traditions proved by a continuous chain of
reports) a means of proving such things. There is a
deal of difference between the true idea of a Tawatur
which produces positive belief and a Tawatur assumed
by the followers of religions.

If it is said that the truth of the statement of the
first class of people who reported the miracles of their
leaders as eye-witnesses, is to be proved by the state-
ments of the next class who were their contemporaries
and so for proving the truth of the statement of the
next or second class, the evidence of the third class
(who were their contemporaries) must be added ;
because the truth of the statements of the second class
also wants a proof, and likewise for the truth of the
statements of the third class the evidence of the fourth
class ouffht to be added, so on till it would reach the
people who live in the present time, and so this chain
or series of evidence will come down gradually to
posterity. It is clear that men of sound mind will
hesitate to reckon that class of people who co-exist
with them, to be perfectly truthful people to whom
falsehood cannot be imputed, especially in matters
of religion^

(6) According to the followers of religions
Tawatur is a report coming down from a certain class
of people to whom falsehood cannot be imputed.
The Raja says whether such a class of people existed
in ancient times is not known to the people of the
present time through the medium of external senses
or experience.

Proof of Historical Events.

The Raja lays down the following canons of his-
torical criticism with a view to distinguishing the
true Tawatur from the false one :

(а) That a Tawatur in the sense of receiving a
report acceptable to reason from persons whose state-
ment is not contradicted by anyone is useful in
giving rise to positive belief. But this sort of
Tawatur is quite different from discrepant reports
contrary to reason. Thus the validity of the proof
of an historical event depends (1) on the testimony
of an eye-witness who has not been contradicted, (2)
on the event narrated being not contrary to human
experience or, in other words, against the law of
nature.

(б) The doctors of religions are found to say :
'■* How are those persons who believe in the narratives
regarding the ancient kings owing to their being
inserted in history and received by Tawatur or suc-
cession of traditions, to be justified in rejecting the
facts relating to the supernatural works performed
by the leaders of religions which are mentioned in
ancient books and are proved by Tawatur or traditions
of nations, from time to time ? ”

(c) The Raja says in reply, the narratives regard-
ing the by-gone kings, for instance, the accession of a
certain king to the throne and his fighting with cer-
tain enemies, &c., are such facts as were then reliable
and unanimously agreed upon; while the narratives of
those supernatural works are contradictory and are
most wonderful,

]iii

{d) Besides the descent or genealogy and
narratives of the by-gone kings are probabilities oUit
and the beliefs regarding the articles of faith of a
certain religion, according to the principles of that
religion, are certain or positive propositions ; so
the one cannot bear an analogy to the other
with this material difference.

(e) Whenever any doubtful discrepancy arises in
the history of any by-gone kings in the matter of
descent or genealogy the reports about them are set
aside or tlirown away from reliance. For instance,
the traditions about A.lexander the Great’s conquering
China and his birth are mutually contradictory as
given by the historians of Greece and Persia ; there-
fore they are not to be believed with certainty.

(/) The doctors of religions are also found to
say : “How can those who in spite of the real fact (of
their paternity) being hidden from them, believe in
particular descent or births only from the general
report of Tawatur ?” The Raja’s reply is plain.
The birth of individuals of any species of animal
from their parents is a visible thing, but the birth of
children without parents is outside our experience
aud contrary to reason.

Mediatorship.

Rammohun in the Tuhfat rejects mediatorship
altogether. That the Almighty Creator has opened
the way of guidance to mortal beings through the
medium of prophets or leaders of religion is considered
by him an untenable position. He gives bis reasons :

(a) Those who hold that the way of guidance
to men lies through prophets believe, at the same time,
thai^. the existence of all things in creation, whether
good or bad, is connected with the Great Creator
without any intermediate agency and that the second-
ary causes are all the mediums and conditions of their
existence.

(b) It is to be seen whether the sending 6f
prophets and revelation to them from God are doiip
immediately by God or through an intermediate
agency. In the first supposition, there is no necessity
for an intermediate agency for guidance or salvation
and there does not seem any necessity for the instru-
mentality of prophets or revelation.

(c) And in the second case, there would be a
series of intermediate agencies wliich would not con-
clude to any end, that is, there will be the .occasion
for eternal regress.

(d) The advents of prophets and revelation, like
other things in nature, depend upon external causes
without any reference to God. Prophets, &c., are
not particularly missioned for instruction in invented
creeds.

(e) Besides what one race calls a guide to a true
faith another calls a misleading to a path of error .

Are All Religions Sent of God ?

(a) T hen the question arises ‘‘Are all religions
sent of God V’ To meet it, some of the followers of
religions argue in this way that discrepancies ought
to be understood to be of the same nature as those
that are found in the laws of ancient and modern

rulers of the world ; that the modern rulers often
repeal the laws framed by the former ones, according
to a different state of society. So all these forms of
religion also were framed by God, according to
different states of society in different times, and one
has been repealed or superseded by another according
to His will.

(b) The Raja’s reply to this argument is that the
rule or government of the true God bears no analogy
to the rule or government of imperfect human beings
who are incapable of understanding the end of
every action and are found acting from mixed motives.
Then the analogy here advanced is an analogy between
two things which differ in essential qualities. How can
it be accepted in the face of the fact that the Brahmins
have a tradition that they have strict orders from
God to observe certain ceremonies and hold their
faith for ever, while the followers of Islam, on the
other hand, quote authority from God that killing
idolaters and persecuting tiiem in every case are
obligatory ? Now, are these contradictory precepts
or orders consistent with the wisdom and mercy of
the great, generous and disinterested Creator, or are
these the fabrications of the followers of religions ?

(c) One party on the authority of their scripture
say that the prophetic mission has been closed with
their leader ; and another party claim that the pro-
phetic mission IS to end in the generation of David
according to the authority of God. And these two
sayings are in fact reports or foretellings, and not
>L4d| precepts ^of law that they may be subject to
repeal. Because in holding one to be true the

falsehood of the other must follow, while the
probability of (change) or perversion is equally

applicable to both.

(d) It is not strange that (in by-gone days) some
ambitious persons in order to obtain the honour of
becoming leaders of the people at large or making
themselves objects of reverence of the people should
have made themselves subject to hardships and
dangers at the time.

Other Arguments.

In considering the other arguments of the doctors
of different religions the Raja observes that each of
them says that his religion which gives informations
about future reward or punishment after death
must be either true or false. In the second case,
i. e., if it be false and there be no future reward or
punishment, there is no harm in believing it to be true,
while in the first case, i. e., its being true, there is a
great danger for the unbelievers.

(a) The Raja says, the abo^'^e saying contains

fallacies in two ways. First, their saying

that in the second case there is no harm in
believing it to be true, is not to be admitted. Because
putting faith in the existence of such things as are
remote from reason and repugnant to experience is
not in the power of a sensible man.

(b) Secondly, in the case of having faith in such
things, it may become the source of various mischiefs
and troubles and immoral practices, bigotry, deceit, &c.

(c) In case we assume this argument to be true,
from this the truth of all forms of religion can be

proved. Hence there will be a great perplexity for
a man who must believe all religions to be true or
adopt one and reject the others. But as the first alter-
native is impossible, consequently the second one
must be assumed. And in this ease he has again
recourse to inquiry into the truth or falsehood of
various religions. And this is the chief object of
my discourse.

II. Another argument which finds favour with
the doctors of different religions is that we should
follow the ceremonies and creeds which were adopted
by our forefathers, without any inquiry into their
truth or falsehood.

(а) In pointing out the fallacy of this argument,
Rammohun says that it is equally applicable, first,
to those persons who having been founders of some
(new) religions attracted the people to themselves ;
and secondly, to those who after receiving the doctrines
of their leaders, have deviated from the old way of
their forefathers. The fact is that renouncing one
religion and adopting another is one of the habits of
mankind.

(б) Besides, the fact of God’s endowing each
individual of mankind with iritellectual faculties and
sense, implies that he should exercise his own intellect-
ual power with the help of acquired knowledge, to
discriminate between good and bad, that this valuable
Divine gift should not be left unused.

III. The followers of different religions seeing
the paucity of the number of the believers in one God
in the world boast that they are on the side of the
majority.

5

(a) To refute this argumentum ad hominem,
the Kaja says that the truth of a saying does not
depend upon the multiplicity of the sayers. Truth
is to be followed even against the majority of the
people.

(b) Moreover, in the beginning of every religion
there were very few supporters of it : viz., its founder
and a few sincere followers of him.

The Positive Side of the Tuhfat.

Towards the end of the treatise we find some
very interesting observations which enable us to
understand the positive side of the Raja’s religious
attitude in this early rationalistic stage of his mental
development. Three distinct phases are prominent :
(1) the exercise of man’s intellectual faculty in
discriminating truth from error ; this is the rationalist-
ic attitude of mind ; (2) the exercise of the intuitive
faculty of discriminating good from evil ; with this is
connected what the Raja calls the natural inspiration
from God which he opposes to invented revelation ;
and (3) the union of hearts with mutual love and
affection of all fellow-creatures, which is, according
to the Raja, a pure devotion acceptable to God and
nature. This may also be called the religion of a
freethinker and is summed up in a verse of Hafiz :
“Be not after the injury of any being and do what-
ever you please. For in our way there is no sin except
injuring others.” It may be noted that the religion
of a freethinker as thus described runs parallel in
naain lines with the Neo-theophilanthropy of

lix

Voltaire and Volney. (Vide Volney’a Beligion of
Nature.)

Men Classified.

The Raja in the Tuhfat divides the individuals of
mankind into four classes :

Firstly — A class of deceivers who in order to
attract the people to themselves wilfully invent
doctrines of creeds and faith and put the people to
trouble and cause disunion amongst them.

Secondly — A class of deluded people, who
without inquiring into the facts, adhere to others.

Thirdly — A class of people who are deceivers
and also deceived ; they are those who having them-
selves faith in the sayings of another induce others
to adhere to his doctrines.

Fourthly — Those who by the help of Almighty
God are neither deceivers nor deceived.

PREFACE BY THE PRESIDENT,
ADI BRAHMO SAMAJ.

The Tuhfatul Mtn(‘>ahhiddin of Raja Raiiimohun
Roy is the index to a certain stage in the history of
his mind. It marks the period when he had just
emerged from the idolatry of his age but had
not yet risen to the sublime Theism and Theistic
Worship first proclaimed in the Trust-Deed of
the Adi Brahmo Samaj. Kvery production of the
Raja must possess the highest interest to the
Brahmos of India and the Theists and liberal
thinkers of other countries. I, therefore, request-
ed 1113^ much respected learned friend^

Moulvie Obaidullah El Obaide, to translate it into
English. He has kindly and zealoiisl}^ complied with
1113^ request in spite of the no ordinar3^ difficulties of
the task. The best thanks of the Brahmo Conimunit3^
are due to him for its accomplishment. Xn English
translation of the work was a desideratum long felt
by that community.

Deoghur, ]

25 th August^ 1884 . J

Rajnarain Bose.

TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE.

The following is a literal English translation of
Tuhfatul MuwiJihiddin or “the Gift to the .Believers
in one (Jod.” -a small pamphlet in Persian, by the
late Raja Rammohun Ro}% on the doctrine of Deism.
It has been undertaken at the request of my old and
esteemed friend Babu Rajnarain Bose, the President
of the Adi Brahmo Samaj, in order to put it within
the reach of Engli-sh-knowing people, who have not
a sufficient knowledge of Persian to understand the
original work, whicli, although a small one, is written
in an abstruse style and is full of Arabic logical and
philosophical terms, so that it was not an easy task
to render it into intelligible English.

The difficulty of the task and how far 1 have
done ju.stice to the original may be seen by any
Anglo-Persian .scholar on reference to the original.
The fact of the book being written in an abstruse
oriental style, is a reasonable excuse for the transla-
tion not being in elegant modern English. The work
was undertaken in the midst of the bustle of my
official and private business, and therefore it is hoped
that the generous public will take a lenient view of
any shortcoming that they may find in the transla-
tion.

«»

Dacca, 1 Ohaidullah El Obaidk,

The ht September, lSSo.\ The Translator.

[IC. IJ. Tho translation has been thoroucfhly revised mid partly re-
hj' Professor Jadunath Sarkar, April 1920.1

INTRODUCTION.

(In Arabic.)

I travelled in the remotest parts of the world, in
plains as well as in hilly lands, and I found the
inhabitants thereof agreeing generally in believing
in the existence of one Being, who is the source of
creation and the governor of it, and disagreeing in
giving peculiar attributes to that Being and in holding
different creeds consisting of the doctrines of religion
and precepts about what is Ildrdm (forbidden) and
n dial (legal). By induction from this it has been known
to me that turning generally towards One Eternal
Being, is like a natural tendency in human beings and
is common to all individuals of mankind equally. And
the inclination of each sect of mankind to a particular
Ood or gods, holding certain especial attributes, and
to some peculiar forms of wor.ship or devotion is an
excrescent quality grown (in mankind) by custom and
training. What a vast difference is there between
nature and custom | Some of these sectaries are ready
to confute the creeds of others owing to a disagreement
with them, believing in the truth of the sayings
of their (ancient) predecessors ; while those predeces-
sors also like other men were liable to commit sins and
mistakes. Hence, all those sectaries (in claiming
the truth of their owti religions) are either true
or false. In the former case, the two contradictories
come together (which is logically in-

admi.ssible) atnl in the latter case, either falsehood

( iv )

18 to be imputed to a certain religion in particular or
to all in common ; in the first case Tarjih hila
Murajjeh i- e. giving preference without

there being any reason for it (which is logical
inadmissible) follows. Hence falsehood is common to
all religions without distinction. I have explained
this (my opinion) in Persian, as it is more intelligible
to the people of Ajam, (?. e., Non-Arabians).

GIFT TO THE BELIEVERS IX ONE (:;OD.
(In Persian.)

Happy is the time of tlio.so perseiis who are deter-
mined to discriminate between the conditions which
are found in individual.s owinsy to custom and frequent
association, and those intrinsic (jualitios which are the
results of the cravings of nature in species and
individuals, and try their utmost to make an enquiry
into the truth and falsehood of the different principles
of religion held by different people, unbiassed in
favour of any one, and scrutinize even those proposi-
tions which are admitted by all without paying any
attention to the position of those persons by whom
they have been as.serted. Because to comprehend the
real nature of things created for different purposes and
to know the ranks of different acts whose effects are
latent (both of which are the essential parts of human
perfection) are in themselves extremely difficult.
Nevertheless, most of the leaders of di^erent religions,
for the sake of perpetuating their names and gaining
honour, having invented several dogmas of faith, have
declared them in the form of truth by pretending
some supernatural acts or by the force of their
tongues, or the contrivance of some measure suitable
to the circumstances of their contemporaries, and
thereby have made a multitude of people adhere to
them, so that those poor people having totally given
up their sight and conscience bind themselves to
submit to their leaders and think it to be a sin to
make distinction between a real virtue and an actual

( 2 )

sin in carrying' out the injunctions of their religious
leaders. Out of regard for their religion and faith,
they think such acts as murder, usurpation and
torturing others, although they be of the same
species and offspring of the same parents, acts of
great virtue. And having an impression that a firm
belief (lit. pure faith) in the persons of their spiritual
leaders, notwithstanding the commission of the most
abominable deeds .such as telling lies, breach of trust,
theft, adultery, &c., — which are heinous crimes in
reference to the future life as well as mischievous to
society (lit. public), — is the cause of salvation from
sins, they always devote their valuable time to read-
ing myths and legends which are full of imposfiibilitie.'i
jjux,../* and which tend to strengthen (lit. increase)
this faith in their past religious leaders as well as in
their present religious e,x}t(mnderK . If, by

chance, any of them possessing a sound mind and
reason, has an inclitiation to make enquiries about
the truth of his adopted creed, he, again, according
to the habit o^he followers of religions, thinks this
inclination to be a result of Satanic temptation, and
taking it to be a cause of destruction to him in this
world as well as in the next, he immediately recants
from it. The fact is this, that each individual on
account of the constant hearing of the wonderful and
impo.ssible stories of his by-gone religious heroes
and praise of the good eflFects of the dogmatic creed of
that nation among whom he has been born and
brought up, from his relatives and neighbours during
the time of boyhood when his faculties were most
susceptible of receiving impressions of the ideas

( 3 )

conveyed to him, acquires such a firm belief in the
dogmas of his religion that he cannot renounce his
adopted faith although most of its doctrines be '
obviously nonsensical and absurd. He prefers that
faith to all others and continues always to observe its
rites and ceremonies and thereby he becomes daily
more firmly attached to it ; hence it is evident that a
man having adopted one particular religion with such
firmness, his sound mind after reaching the age of
maturity with acquired knowledge of books, without
being inclined to make enquiries into the truth of the
admitted propositions of so many years, is insufficient
to discover the real truth. Rather, that very man
sometimes in hope of attaining the honour of being
(regardeil as) a Mujtahid or religious e.vpounder,
becomes anxious to invent new arguments founded on
so called reason and tradition by the help of his own
knowledge and intellect, in order to give strength to
the doctrines <jf his faith. The Muqaltvh or common
people following that religion by blind imitation, who
are always anxrious at heart to give preference to
their faith over other religions according to the pro-
verb that “A Hoon (cry) is sufficient for (exciting) a
mad fellow,” making those fallacious arguments the
grounds of their disputation, boast of their own reli-
gion, and point out the faults f)f the religions of
others. If by chance sometimes any one through
want of prudence (}uestions any principle of faith of
his own religion, his co religionists in the case of their
having the power, make over that inexperienced fellow
to the tongue (point) of the spear (i. e. kill him), and
in tl\e case of their having no such opportunity make

( 4 )

him over to the spear of the tongue {i e., overload
him with reproaches and slander). The influence of
' these leaders over their followers and their submission
to them have reached such a degree that some people
having a firm belief in the sayings of their leaders,
think some stones and plants or animals to be
the real objects of their worship ; and, in opposing
those who may attempt to destroy those objects of
their worship or to insult them, they think shedding
the blood of others or sacrificing their own lives an
object of glory in this world, and a cause of .salvation
in the next. It is more strange that their Mujtahids
or religious expounders also, after the examples of
the leaders of other religions, laying aside justice
and honesty, try to invent passages in the form of
reasonable arguments in support of tliose articles t)f
faith which are manifestly nonsensical and absurd,
and thereby try to give strength to the faith of
the common people who are wanting in insight
and discretion.

ohp* ilJb

"We seek the protection of God from the evil
temptations of onr passions and from our evil deeds."

Although it is an undeniable fact that the social
instincts of mankind make it necessar}^ that the in-
dividual members of this species should live and
dwell together permanently, yet, — as society depends
upon individuals expressing and understanding the
ideas of each other and on the existence of some
rules by which the property of one is defined
and distinguished from that of another and one is

■ ( 5 )

prevented from exercising oppression over another,

so all the races inhabiting different countries, even
the inhabitants of far off islands and the summits
of lofty mountains, have coined words to indicate
certain ideas, and invented religions upon which the
organization of society depends. As the foundation
of the permanence of (all) religions is based on
belief in the existence of the soul (which is defined to
be a substance governing the body) and on the
existence of the next world, (which is held to be the
place for receiving compensation for the good and
evil deeds done in this world, after the separation of
the soul from the body), they (mankind) are to be
excused for admitting and teaching the doctrine of
the existence of the soul and the next world (although
the real existence of the soul and the next world is
hidden and mysterious) for the sake of the welfare of
the people (society), as they simply, for fear of
punishment in the next world and the penalties in-
flicted by the w'orldly authorities, refrain' from the
commission of illegal deeds. But to belief in these
two indispensable doctrines, hundreds of useless
hardships and privations regarding eating and drink-
ing, purity and impurity, auspiciousne.ss and inauspi-
ciousness, &c., have been added, and thus they have
become causes of injury and deti’imental to social life
and sources of trouble ‘and bewilderment to the
people, instead of tending to the amelioration of the
condition of society.

Holiness to God ! (i it is strange to say) that
notwithstanding these ardent enthusiasms on the part
of the Mujtahids. or doctors of religion, there is

( « )

always an innate faculty existing in the nature of
mankind that if any person of sound mind, before
or after assuming the doctrines of any religion,
makes an enquiry into the nature of the principles of
religious doctrines, primary or secondary, laid down
by different nations, without partiality and with a
sense of justice, there is a strong hope that he will
be able to distinguish truth from untruth and the
true propositions from the fallacious ones, and also
he, becoming free from the useless restraints of
religion, which sometimes become sources of
prejudice of one against ai»other and causes of
physical and merital troubles, will turn to the One
Being who is the fountain of the harmonious
organisation of the universe, and will pay attention

to the good of society.

«

'■'^Whom God leads {to the. ru/ht path) there is none
to mislead him, and whom He misleads there is no
leader for him.”

It ought to be noted that the followers of certain
religions believe that the true Creator has created
mankind for discharging the duties connected with the
welfare of the present and future lives by observing
the tenets of that particular religion ; and that the
followers of other religions, who differ from them in
articles of faith, are liable to punishment and tor-
ments in the future life. And as each particular
class defers the good results of their own acts and the
bad results of the practices of the followers of other

( 7 )

religions to the life after death, therefore none of
them can refute the dogmas of others in this life ;
consequently they sow the seeds of prejudice and dis-
union in their hearts, instead of sincerity, and condemn
each other to the deprivation of eternal blessings ; —
though it is quite evident that all of them are
living here equally enjoying the external blessings of
ruiture {lit. heaven), such as the light of the stars, the
pleasures of the season of spring, the fall of rain,
he.alth of body, external and internal good, and other
enjoyments of life, as well as equally sutfering from
inconveniences and pain, such as the gloominess of
darkness, the severity of cold, mental disease, narrow-
ness of circumstances, and outward and inward evils,
without any distinction b}' reason of their being the
followers of a particular religion.

Although each individual me\nber of mankind,
without the instruction or guidance of any one, simply
by keen insight into, and deep observation of the
mysteries of the Universe, such as the different modes
ordained for the pi o[)agatiou of the species of different
kinds of animals, different seasons for the growth of
different plants, tiie rules of the movements of the
planets and stars and endowment of innate affection
in animals towards their offsprings for nurturing
them without having any hope of return from them
in future, and so forth, has an innate faculty in him
by which he can infer that there exists a Being Who
(with His wisdom) governs the whole universe ; yet
it is clear that every one in imitation of the other
individuals of the race among whom he has been
brought up, professes the existence of a particular

( 8 )

Divinity (with particular attributes ascribed to Him)
and adopts certain tenets in following that particular
creed. For instance, some of them believe in a God
qualified with human attributes like anger, mercy,
hatred and love ; and others believe in a Being com-
prehending and extending all over nature ; a few are
inclined to atheism or thinking the yio Dahr (time) or
Nature, as the creative principle of the Universe; and
some of them give Divine attributes to large created
beings and make them objects of worship. These
persons do not make any distinction between the
beliefs which are the results of special teaching and
custom and those creeds that originate in the intuitive
(Jit. summary) belief in the existence of the Source of
Creation, which is an indispensable characteristic of
man, so that they, through tliQ influence of habit and
custom and blindness to the connection between
cause and cifect, believe the bathinsf in a river and
worshipping a tree or becoming a monk and pur-
cha.sing forgiveness of their sins from the high
priests, &c., (according to the peculiarities of difierent
religions) to be the cause of salvation and purification
from the sins of a whole life time. And they think that
this purification is the effect of the objects adored by
them and the miracles of their priests, and not the
result of their own belief and fancy, while these things
do not produce any effect on those men who do not
agree with them in those beliefs. Had there been
any real effect in these imaginary things, it must
have been common to all peoples of different persua-
,ions and should not have been confined to one parti-
cular people’s belief and habits. For although the

( 9 )

degree of strength of the effect varies according to the
different capacities of the persons subject to it, yet
it is not dependent upon the belief of a particular *
believer. Do you not see that if a poison be taken
by any one in the belief that it is a sweetmeat, it must
produce its effect on the eater and kill him ?

0 God, give me strength of mind for making
distinction between custom and nature.

The founders of religions have invented the idea of
supernatural acts or miracles in order to attribute the
origin of a particular religion to themselves and to
increase the belief of the common people in them.

It is customary with the common people labouring
under fancies that when they see any act or thing
done or found, beyond their power of comprehension,
or for which they cannot make out any obvious cause,
they ascribe it to supernatural power or miracle. The
secret lies in this that in this world where things are
related to one another by the sequent relation
of cause and effect, the existence of every thing
depends upon a certain cause and condition, so that
if we take into consideration the remote causes, we
may say that in the existence of any one thing in
nature the whole universe concerned. But when
for want of experience and through the influence of
fancies, the cause of a thing remains hidden from any
one, another person having found it a good oppor-
tunity for achieving his object, ascribes it to his own
supernatural power and thereby attracts people to
himself. In the present age in India, belief in super-
natural and miraculous things has reached such a
degree that the people, when they find any wonderful

( JO )

thing, the origin of which they can ascribe to their
by-gone heroes or their present saints, immediately
ascribe it to them, and although there must obviously
be a cause of it in existence, they ignore it. But it is
not hidden from those who have a sound mind and who
are lovers of justice, that there are many things, for
instance, many wonderful inventions of the people of
Europe and the dexterity of jugglers, the causes of
which are not obviously known and seem to bo beyond
the comprehension of the human faculties, but after
the exercise of keen insight or the instruction of
others those causes can be known satisfactorily. This
method of inductive reasoning only may be sufficient
to guard intelligent people against being deceived
by such supernatural works. The utmost which
we can say on this matter is that in some instances,
notwithstanding one possessing keen and penetrative
sagacit}’’, the cause of some wonderful things
remains unknown to some people. In such cases,
we ought to have recourse to our own Intuition and
put to it the following query, vk., whether it is more
compatible with reason to be convinced of our own
inability to understand the cause or to attribute it to
some impossible agency inconsistent with the law of
nature ? I think our intuition will prefer the first.
Moreover, what necessity is there, that we should
believe in the.se things which are inconsistent with
rational conclusion ( qinn ) and have not been
observed personally; for instance, raising the dead,
ascending to heaven, &c., which are said to have
occurred many hundreds of year.s ago ? It is to be
wondered at, that although people in worldly ftansac-

( n )

tions without, knowing the connection of one thing
with another do not believe that the one is the cause
and the other the effect, yet when there is the
influence of religion and faith, Uiey do not hesitate
to call one the cause and the other the effect, notwith-
standing the fact that there is no connection or
sequence between the two. For instance the
removal of a calamity’ by the effect of certain prayers
or getting recovery from disease by the effect of
certain charms, amulets. &c.

When enquiries are made about the mysteries of
these things which are so imirvellous that rrafton hesi-
tates to believe in their tjuth, the leaders of reliction
sometimes explain for the satisfaction of their follow-
ers, that in the affairs of religion and faith reason
and its arguments have nothing to do, and that the
affairs of religion depend upon faith and Divine help.
How could a matter which has no proof and which

is inconsistent with reason be 'received and admitted

•

by men of reason ?

'^Take admonitions from this, 0 'people of insiqht 1”
{Q-uran, ch. 59, vor. 2.)

They sometimes having a profound knowledge (of
logic) begin to argue that it is not impossible for the
power of that Omnipotent Creator who has brought
the whole Universe into existence from perfect
nonentity, that He should unite life with the bodies of
the dead a second time or should give to earthly
bodies the property of light or the power of air to travel
to a great distance within a shor,t time. But thi.s

( 12 )

argument does not prove anything but the possibility
of the occurrence of such things, while they have to
prove the actual occurrence of the miracles of their
ancient religious leaders and their modern Mujtahids ;
so it is clear to men of understandincf that there

O

is no Taquarihi in this argument.

Besides, if their arguments were held to be true,
then there would be no way for Mjtnn or question-
ing the truth of a premiss in a syllogism, during
Mnnazara or discussion, and the door of reject-
ing any proposition, whatever it might be, would
be entirely closed. Because any one in attempting to
prove impossible and inconceivable things might have
recourse to such a proposition during the debate ;
and thus there would be no difference between the
ideas of Jij»\ possible and imposssible, and conse-
quently the whole foundation of composing syllogism
and logical demonstration would fall to the ground.
Now, it is an admitted fact that the Creator has no
pbwer to create impossible things, such as i-jCs
co-partnership with God, the non-existence of God, or
^Uia.1 the existence of two contradictories, etc.

jjt u.i|

The disputes of the seventii two sects* are to be
excused because they, not finding the truth, have
trodden the imy of fables or nonsense. [Hafiz, Jarrett’s
ed., Ghazal No. 222'J

t Taqarih means in Logic the agreement of the ooncluaion with the
quaeait/tim or the proposition to be proved. [Trans] •

* There are seventy* two sects among the Muhammad vns.

( is )

Whereas on account of distance of time the great
superhuman powers of the by-gone leaders of different
religions are impossible to be proved by knowledge
gathered by the external senses, (which, under certain
conditions, impart a positive knowledge); therefore the
doctors of different persuasions, relying on the faith
of their followers, have made the idea of yly Tcvwatur
(traditions proved by a continuous chain of general
reports) a means of proving such things. Now, with a
little consideration of the true nature of the idea
ofayl^j Taioatur which produces positive belief and a
Tawatur assumed by the followers of reli gions, the
evil of this fallacy can be removed. Because according
to the followers of religions Tawatm is a report coming
down from a certain class of pepple to whom false-
hood cannot be imputed ; but whetfi^u* such a class
of [)eople existed in ancient times is not known to the
people of the present time through the medium of the
ex ternal senses or experience ; rather it is quite obscure
aiul doubtful. Besido.s, the great discrepancies in the
traditions of the by-gone leaders of each religion indi-
cate the ffilseliood of their assertion. If it is said that
the truth of the stale meat the first class of people
who reported the miracles of their leaders as
eye-witnesses, is*to be proved by the statements of the
next class who were thoir contemporaries, and so for
proving the truth of the statement of the next or
second class, the evidence of the third class (who were
their Cv)ntemporaries) must he added ; because
the truth of the statements of the second class also
wants a proof, and likewise for the truth of the
i^tatements of the third class the evidence of the fourth
3

( 14 )

class ought to be added, and so on till it would /each

the people who live in the present time, and so this

chain or series of evidence will come down gradually

to posterity. It is clear that men of sound mind

will hesitate t ) reekoii that class of people who

coexist with them, to be a perfectly truthful people

to whom falsehood cannot bo imputed especially in

matters of religion. Besides a great contradiction

is found in the attirmatioh and negation of

the prophec}^ and other good attributes of the

leaders of different religions, and these

contradictory reports are proved also by yly

Tawatur. Therefore, in takin for granted the truth of

the report of each party, there would be

(i.e., admitting two contradictory propositions).

And giving preference to one report above another

without any ground for jn’eference is U)

giving one pro})osition [ireferenee over another

without any reasonable ground), because each party

eanequally pretend that the statement of their

ancestors was true aud reliable. The fact is that

\ .

a Tawatur in the sense of receiving a report accept-
able to reason from a people whose statement is not
contradicted by atiy^ one, is useful in giving positive
belief. But this sort of Tauxitur is quite different
from the discrepant reports contrary to reason. By
this assertion the following arguments ( adduced
by fl octors of religion ) are easily refuted. They
say, firsthj, “how are tho.se persons who believe
in the narratives regarding the ancient kings owing
to their being inserted in history and received by
Tatoafnr or succession of traditions, to be justified in

(IS )

rejecting the facts relating to the supernatural works
performed by the leaders of religions, which are
mentioned in ancient books and are proved by Tawa-
tur or traditions of nations, from time to time ? ”
And, secondly, “how can those who in s[)ite of the
ditferenee in colour, shape and manners of the
offspring of a persoji from him, and in spite of the
real fact ( of their paternity ) being hidden from
them, believe in particular descent or births only
from the general report of Tawaiur, hesitate to
believe in the holiness and the miracles of the
ancient Mujtahids, which are also transmitted by
the same process of I'aicahir ?” Inasmuch as the
narratives regarding the by-gone kings, for instance,
the accession of a certain king to the throne and his
fighting with certain enemies, &c., are such facts as
were then reliable and unanimously agreed upon ;
while the narratives of those supernatural works are
contradictory and are most wonderful. For instance,
the birth of individuals of any species of animals
from their parents is a visible thing, but the birth of
children without parents is quite contrary to reason,
b* Uki'jl •; o^Ui' dj

.^^See H'hat a vast dilhrence there is bettreea one
way and the other'' [Hafiz, Jarrett’s ed., Ghazal
No. 12.]

Besides, the descent or gcnenlogy and narratives
of the by-gone kings are probabilities olub ; —
and the beliefs regarding the ai’ticles of faith of a
certain religion, according to the principles of that
religion^ are certain or positive proposition ; so

( 16 )

the one cannot bear an analogy to the other with this
material difference. Notwithstanding this, whenever
any doubtful discrepancy arises in the history of any
by-gone kings in the matter of descent or genealogy,
the reports about them are set aside or thrown away
from reliance. For instance, the traditions about
Alexander the Great’s conquering China and his
birth are mutually contradictory as given by the
historians of Greece and Persia, therefore they
are not to be believed with certainty.

Some people argue in this way that the Almighty
Creator has opened the way of guidance to mortal
beings through the medium of prophets or leaders of
religion. This is evidently futile, because the same
people believe tiiat the existence of all things
in creation, whether good or bad, is connected
with the Great Creator without any intermediate
agency, and that the secondary causes are all the
medium and conditions of their existence. Hence it
is to be seen whether the sending of prophets and
revelation to them from God, are done immediately
by God or through an intermediate agency. In the
first supposition there is no necessity for an interme-
diate agency fur guidance to salvation, and there does
not seem any necessity for the instrumentality, of
prophets revelation. And in the second case, there
would be a series of intermediate agencies which
would rot conclude to any end. Hence, the advent of
prophets or and revelation like other things in nature
depend upon external causes without any reference to
God, i.e., they depend upon the invention of an
inventor. Prophets, &c., are not fArticularly

in)

missioned for instruction in invented creeds. Besides,
what one race calls a guide to a true faith, another
calls a misleading to a path of error.

Some of the followers of rel'n^ion argue in
this way that the discrepancy between tlie precepts of
different religions does not prove the falseliood of
any religion. The discrepancies ought to be under-
stood to be of the same nature as those tliat are
found in the laws of ancient and modern rulers of
the world ; that tlie modern rule?*s often repeal the
laws framed by be Tormoi- ones, according to a
different stale of society. So all tliese forms of
religion also were framed by God, according to
different states of society in different times, and the
one has been repealed or superseded by another
according to His will. ]Vty reply to this argument is
that the rule or government of ilie true (Jod, who
according to the belief of the followers of religions
that ac(juainted with the particular state of ever
particle, who is Omniscient, to whom past,
present and future times are equally known, under
whose inffueiice tlie liearts of mankind can be turned
to whatever He wishes, who is tlio provider of the
visidle and invisible causes of eveiy thing, who is
incapable of having any particular object as His
own interest, and who is free from whims, bears no
analogy to tlie rules or government of human beings,
whose wisdom is defective and incapable of under-
standing the end of every action and who are suscep-
tible of errors or mistakes and whose actions are
mixed with selfishness, deceit and hypocrisy. Is not
htis sort of analogy — analogy between

( 18 )'

two things which differ in essential qualities ? Besides
this, there are many other strong objections to holding
the above opinion, for instance, the Brahmins have a
tradition that they have strict orders from God to
observe certain ceremonies and hold their faith for
ever. There are many injuctions about this from the
Divine Authority in the Sanskrit language and
I, the humblest creature of God, having been
born amongst them, have learnt the language and
got those injunctions by heart, and this sect
(the Brahmins) having confidence in such Divine
injunctions cannot give them up, although they have
been made subject to many troubles and persecutions
and were threatened with death by the followers
of Islam. The followers of Islam, on the other
hand, according to the purport of the holy verse of
the Quran )^ii5U (i. e., kill

the idolators wherever you find them) and
»|ai U! j (ju* Utj ^ 315^1 (/. e., then tie the bonds, i.e.,

capture the unbelievers in liolj^ war. then either
set them free by way of obligation to thetn or by
taking i^ansoin), (Quran, ch. 9, ver. 5) ch. 47, ver. 4.)
quote authority from God that killing idolators
and persecuting them in every case, are obligatory
by Divine command. Among those idolators,
the Brahmins, according to the Moslem belief, are the
grossest idolators. Therefore the followers of Islam
alw’ays being excited by religious zeal and desirous
of carrying out the orders of God, have not tailed to
do their utjnost to kill and persecute the polytheists
and unbelievers in the prophetic mission of the Seal of
Prophets and the Blessing to the presenifand future

( 19 )

worlds* (may Divine benediction rest on him and on
his disciples). Now, are these contradictory precepts *
or order.s consistent with the wisdom and mercy
of the great, generous and disinterested Creator or
are these the fabrications of the followers of reliefion ?

I think a sound mind will not hesitate to prefer the
latter alternative. Then we should consider, which
of these two is proper, i.e., either to attribute these
injunctions and precepts to God or to reject these
contradictory traditions at once. For instance, one
party on the authority of their scripture saj^ that the
prophetic mission has been closed with their leader;
and another party claim that the prophetic mission
is to end in the ^feneration of David accordinof to the
authority of God. And these two .sayings are in
fact, jUAI reports or foretelling.s and not or

precepts of law, that they may be subject to repeal.
Because in holding one to be true the falsehood of
the other must follow, while the probability of
[change) or perversion is equally applicable to both. It
is strange to say, that after passing hundreds of years
from the time of these religious leaders, with whom the
prophetic mission is said to have been closed, Nanak
and others in India and other countries raised the flag
of prophetic mission and made a large concourse of
people their followers by inducement and attained to
success. Rather the door of realising their own
objects in the form of religious instruction (prosely
tising) is always open to inexperienced and shallow -
thinking people. It is daily observed that hundreds of
persons in the hope of gaining some honor or a little

♦Muhammad* [Trans. 1

( .20 )

profit make themselves subject to various kinds of
physical privation and hardship, such as, keeping
perpetual fasting or suspending one of the arras
motionless or burning the body, &c. (whieh^are seen
among the Hindoo ascetfcs or monks). Hence it is
not strange tliac (in by-gone days) some ambitious
persons in order to obtain the honor of becoming
leaders of the people at large or making themselves
objects of reverence to the people, should have made
hemselves subje it tj hirdships and dangers at th
time.

There is a saying which is often heard from the
doctors of different religions and which they quote as
an authority for giving strength to their creeds. Each
of them says that his religion which gives information
about tilw future reward or punishment after death
must bo either true or false. In the second case, i.e., if it
be false and there be no future reward or punishment,
there is no harm in believing it to bo true ; while in the
first case, i.e.., its being true, there Is a great danger for
the unbelievers. The poor people, who follow these
expounders of religions, holding this saying of their
leaders to be a conclusive argument, are always boast-
ing of it. The fact is that custom and training make
the individuals of mankind blind and deaf notwith-
standing their having eyes and cars The above saying
contains fallacies in two ways. Firstly, their saying
that in the second ca.se there is no harm in believing
it to he true, is not to be admitted. Because faith in
the actual existence of a thing after si^posing its
existence to be a reality can be obtained by each
individual of mankind ; but putting faith in the

( 21 )

existence of such things as are remote from reason
and repugnant to experience, is not in the power
of a sensible man. Secondly, in the case of having
faith in such things, it may become the source of
various mischiefs and troubles and immoral practices
owing to gross ignorance and want of experience, i.e.,
bigotry, deceit, &c. Nevertheless, in case we' assume
this argument to be true, from this the truth of all
forms of religion can be proved ; for the followers of
each religion may equally adduce the same argument.
Hence there will be a great perplexity for a man who
must believe all religions to be true or adopt one and
reject the others. But as the first alternative is im-
possible, consequently the second one must he assumed.
And in this case he has again recourse to enquiry into
the truth or falsehood of various religions. And this
is the chief object of my discourse.

Another argument produced by some of the
doctors of religions, is that it is necessary that we
should follow the ceremonies and creeds which were
adopted by our forefathers, without any inquiry
into their truth or falsehood, and to condemn those
ceremonies and creeds or deviate from them, leads to
disgrace in the present world and to mischiefs in the
next; and that such a conduct is in fact a contempt
and insult to our forefathers. This fallacious argu-
ment of theirs produces a great effect on the minds
of the people who entertain a good opinion aipd
reverence towards their ancestors, and consequently
hinders them from making any enquiry into the truth
and adopting the right way. The fallacy of
this argument may be seen by a little consideration.

( 22 )

For ib is equally applicable, first, to those persons
who having been founders of some (new) religion
attracted the people to themselves ; and secondly,
to those who after receiving the doctrines of their
leaders, have deviated from the old way of their fore-
fathers, and tried to pull down the foundation of their
ancestors’ creeds. If a man by merely attributing his
own inventions to God is to be vindicated from such
charges, then this is the easiest way to be adopted.
The fact is that renouncing one religion and adopting
another, which was common amongst the ancient
people, implies that conversion from one religion to
another is one of the habits of mankind. Besides,
the fact of God’s endowing each individual of man-
kind with intellectual faculties and senses implies
that he should not, like other . animals, follow the
examples of the brethren of his race, but should
exercise his own intellectual power with the help
of acquired knowledge, to discriminate between
good and bad, so that this valuable Divine gift should
not be left unused.

The followers of difterent religions sometimes see-
ing the paucity of the number of the believers
in one God in the world boast that they are on the
side of the majority. It is to be seen that the truth
of a saying does not depend upon the multiplicity
of the sayers, and the non-reliability of a narration
cannot arise simply owing to the paucity of the
narrators. For it is admitted by the seekers of truth
that truth is to be followed even against the majority
of the people. Moreover, accepting th% proposition,
viz., that the paucity of the number of the sayers proves

( 23 )

the invalidity of a saying, as universal, will prove a
dangerous blow to all forms of religion. Because in
the beginning of every religion there were very few
supporters of it, viz., its founder and a few
sincere followers of him, who had the same opinions
with him, and afterwards so many large books and
series of arguments have been written and produced
like founding a mountain upon a single gl ass, viz., on
the sayings of those few persons, wliile having a belief
only in one Almighty God is the fundamental
principle of every religion. Those who prefer the so-
called invented revelation of mankind to the natural
inspiration from God — which consists in attending to
social life with their own fellow-creatures and having
an intuitive faculty of discriminating good from evil —
instead of gaining union of hearts with mutual love
and aifoction for all their fellow creatures without dis-
tinction of shape and colour or creed and religion,
which is a pure devotion acceptable to God and
nature, consider. some invented practices and particu-
lar bodily motions to be the cause of salvation and
receiving bounty from Almighty God. They, in fact,
pretend a change in the self of the Deity and think
that their physical actions an-- mental emotions have
power to change the state of unchangeable God. By
no means can our actions and motions bo the cause
of appeasing the wrath of G )d and gaining His
forgiveness and favour. A little consideration is
enough to overthrow this palpable heresy {bidat.)

Verse.

P Vi).? — li/i***^

^

( 24 )

So many hypocritical acts of the Shaikh, i. e.,
spiritual leader, are not worth a mite ; give comfort
to the hearts of people ; this is the only Divine doctrine.

In short, the individuals of mankind regarded as
those who are deceivers and those who are deluded
and those who are not either, belong to four classes.

Firstly — A class of deceivers who in order to
attract the people to themselves wilfully invent
doctrines of creeds and faith and put the people to
trouble and cause disunion amongst them.

Secondly — A class of deluded people, who without
inquiring into the facts, adhere to others.

Thirdly — A. class of people who are deceivers and
also deceived, they are those who having themselves
faith in the sayings of another induce others to adhere
to his doctrines.

Fourthly — Those who by the help of Almighty
Uod are neither deceivers nor deluded.

Be not after doing injury to any being, hut do
whatever you please. For in our way there is no sin
except it {viz. injuring others). [Hafiz, Jarrett’s ed.,
Ghazal No. 92.]

These few sentences, short and useful according to
the opinion of this humble creature of God, have been
written without any regard for the men of prejudice
and bigotry, with this hope that the people of sound
mind will look to this with eyes of jiistice. I have
left the detail of it to another w’ork of mine entitled

( 25 )

jiJ\ Manazaraid Adyan,* ‘Discussion of

Various Religions.’ In order to avoid any future
change in this book by copyists, I have got these
few pages printed just after composition. Let it be
known that the pronouncing of words of benediction
on prophets, as has been clone in this book, is merely
an imitation of the custom of the authors of Arabia
and Ajam.

* Mavnzara ia a work in the form of flialoguo in which two or more
pe rsona are introduced to discuaa a given special subject. [Trans,]

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